


Milkvetch Meadow

by tspofnutmeg



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sheith Flower Exchange 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 05:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10824567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tspofnutmeg/pseuds/tspofnutmeg
Summary: Shiro can't calm down. Keith knows how to help.





	Milkvetch Meadow

**Author's Note:**

> My fic gift for Zayne! (@zaynewrites)
> 
> flower: milkvetch (your presence softens my pains)
> 
> I hope you enjoy! <3

Their latest fight wasn't anything unusual. Team Voltron went to check out a world Coran believed might have some technology that would improve their chances in their fight against the Galra. Also like usual, the Galra were already there and causing trouble. Their opponent wasn’t the smartest or strongest they’ve faced, so although Coran’s intelligence about useful tech was wrong, they managed to force the Galra out without too much pushback. Freeing a people from their oppressors was a good second place prize.

For whatever reason, Shiro was still tense hours after returning to the castle. He had no excuse; they had won the altercation, coming away with nothing more than some minor scrapes on their lions. Shiro knew everyone else was probably sleeping or enjoying their downtime; he was the only one pacing and sweating, feeling like they were still in battle. He couldn’t be trapped inside his room, stuck inside a mostly dead castle. Shiro needed to be somewhere else. 

They had been on the same planet for a while, so they turned it into more of a base of operations. Coran insisted that with Zarkon gone, they weren’t in immediate danger (for once), and it was time to run diagnostics and make repairs to the entire castle. The paladins were always careful on their return, obscuring their route to deter anyone from tracking them back ‘home.’

Exiting his room, Shiro’s feet guided him on autopilot to the training simulator. Maybe that was the problem - he hadn’t fought enough. Maybe too much adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. Before he was taken by the Galra, Shiro would never think of himself as someone who needed the rush of combat, but now… well, now he was the Champion.

Shiro slowed as he noticed Keith approach from the opposite end of the hallway. He let himself show a small smile. If there was anyone who’d understand how he was feeling, it would be Keith. He probably was heading to the same place for the same reasons. Sparring with a partner was always better than fighting against some machine, even ones as state-of-the-art as the Altean trainers.

Keith didn’t say anything as he faced and inspected Shiro. The way his face glistened from sweat. The motion of his fists clenching and unclenching. How his quads were tight, ready to spring to action. They locked eyes last and Keith already knew the answer to his question, “Is everything okay, Shiro?”

“I haven’t come down from the battle,” Shiro would’ve been embarrassed to admit it to anyone else but Keith, “I’m just a little on edge.”

Keith had to stop himself from snorting. A little? To Keith, Shiro looked like he was aching to charge into a Galra mothership and take them all out with only his fists. 

“You don’t need to fight, Shiro. You need to get away from this.” Keith waved his hand in the air. 

Exhaling a sigh, Shiro gave Keith a patient look. “Keith, you just gestured at everything.”  
“Exactly. Come with me.” Without asking for permission, Keith grabbed Shiro’s wrist and pulled him toward the hanger. They walked in silence, Keith never letting go until the reached the row of shuttles. 

Keith knew the perfect place, he found it accidentally when he was looking for somewhere to think and decompress. Coming to terms with his Galra connections wasn’t easy for the team, but it wasn’t easy for Keith either. The suspicious glances, the inane questions about his looks, the way everyone else expected him to have answers he didn’t have was infuriating. Keith wanted to go chase down the truths about his past, he really did, but he made a promise to them - to Shiro - to do his part as a paladin of Voltron.

“Why aren’t we taking one of our lions?” Shiro asked, dragging his feet.

“The point is to get away from the battle, Shiro.” Keith got into a shuttle and powered the engines. “That includes the lions.”

A crease in Shiro’s forehead appeared as he followed and situated himself in the passenger seat. “But what if someone needs us?”

“We’re not going that far. They’ll manage for the ten minutes it takes to get back to the castle.”

Shiro still didn’t like it, but he wasn’t in charge of this mission. 

Mission.

That was part of his problem. Going out somewhere to calm down wasn’t a mission. Relaxing wasn’t something he could add to his to-do list to check off. At one time, Shiro must have known how to relax, maybe back on Earth, but that feels like a life that didn’t belong to him anymore.

Keith watched him out of the corner of his eye. The frustration on Shiro’s face was almost endearing, mostly because Keith experienced the same struggles. They’ve always been similar when it came to their duties, but while Keith had ran hot, Shiro was the voice of reason. Keith couldn’t help finding amusement in their current role reversal. 

“Take off your vest.”

“What?” Shiro looked over for an explanation. 

“Take off your vest, untuck your shirt, put your feet up. You know, get comfortable. You’re too ready to fight.”

The corner of Shiro’s mouth upticked into an amused smile. “Don’t you see some hypocrisy in that statement?”

Keith snorted. “That’s why you should listen to me. If even I’m telling you to relax, you must really need it.”

Well, Shiro couldn’t argue with that logic. Keith was unanimously regarded as the temperamental, unpredictable, and stubborn one. What did that say about Shiro if he was being scolded by him now?

Keith was right, the trip was over before Shiro knew it. They landed the shuttle on the outskirts of a lush meadow covered in small purple and white wildflowers. Shiro practically tripped out of the shuttle, mesmerized by the lush colors and life. Immediately, the tension between Shiro’s shoulders started to ease, knots unwinding themselves. Being here was doing wonders and it had been less than a minute. 

“Up here.” Keith gestured for Shiro to follow him up a small hill where the flowers thinned out enough for them to have space to recline. Shiro was amazed as Keith seemingly glided, leaving all of the flowers in his path intact. 

Laying back in the grass, Keith stretched out and exhaled a deep breath. He looked up expectantly at Shiro until he did the same. The ground was surprisingly soft, and the sweet smell of the flowers wafted through the air. 

They didn’t say anything, enjoying the sun and the fresh air. Shiro felt more of his worries slip away with every breath. When he finally felt light again, his breathing had synced up with Keith’s. Shiro looked over, needing to say something, but having no words.

Like he knew what Shiro was thinking, Keith murmured, "It's better when you're here..." 

Keith could feel Shiro’s eyes focus on him, but kept his face stubbornly pointed toward the sky. Shiro’s silence was a signal for Keith to explain himself. That was something Keith always appreciated about him. Shiro pushed him, did his best to make Keith believe in himself as much as Shiro did, but knew when Keith needed a moment to sort things out for himself.

“It’s just… easier. Easier to fight, easier to relax, easier to breathe. I feel more like myself, I feel like everything will be okay when you’re around. I-” Keith had to pause, swallowing the emotion bubbling up from his chest. “Don’t leave me again, Shiro.”

It was phrased like a command, but Shiro couldn’t miss the desperation in his voice. He wasn’t sure if Keith was talking about how he disappeared from inside his lion, or when he was abducted by the Galra and declared dead, or when he left to Pluto in the first place. Whatever it was, it had hurt Keith more than he let on. Shiro never wanted to be the source of Keith’s pain, only the balm to it.

“Close your eyes, Takashi.”

Shiro felt his heart jump into his throat. It had been a long, long time since someone called him by his first name. To hear it whispered with such tenderness was almost painful. There were memories trapped in Keith’s voice, but Shiro didn’t have the ability to unlock them, not yet. There was something there, something about what Shiro had meant to Keith a long time ago. But Shiro could only listen to the command and let his eyelids flutter shut. 

With only the sound of the breeze and a far away chirping Shiro could only assume was some kind of bird, it was easy to make out the sound of Keith shifting. Maybe up on an elbow or sitting back on his haunches. The spicy smell of whatever Altean soap Keith used filled the air and Shiro was aware Keith was much, much closer than he anticipated.

Despite how soft Keith’s lips were, Shiro was electrified as they pressed against his own. It was only a single kiss, but it was worlds more than that. He had forgotten how it felt to connect with someone, to have someone bare themselves to him and open himself up in return. Any lingering sadness, any worry or doubt, seeped out of his body and evaporated into the air. 

It ended all too soon, and Shiro wanted to chase after it. He swiftly wrapped his arms around Keith, pulling him down onto his chest and connecting their lips again. It still didn’t last long, but this time it was because large grins bloomed on their faces. They snuck as many kisses as they could between their smiles and laughter.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He hoped Keith would believe him after all the heartache he already lived through. “I’m going to stay by your side, Keith. It’s the only place that feels like home.” 

Keith smiled at him through teary eyes. There was nothing else he needed to say, not now anyway. Keith nestled his face in the crook of Shiro’s neck, no longer clinging to him, but still holding on tight. Shiro wrapped his arms around him, his human hand entangled in the hair at the nape of Keith’s neck. 

They didn’t know if it had been two minutes or two hours before Shiro’s comm chimed. Allura wanted to go over their next mission and they were to return to the base at once. They reluctantly pulled themselves up, brushing off flower petals and blades of grass from each other. Hand in hand, they walked back to the shuttle.

“Will you take me here again?” Shiro asked as they flew back toward the castle.

Keith smiled. “Of course. Whenever you want.”


End file.
